This invention relates generally to an apparatus for protecting the body from abrasion and burn injuries and more particularly to a garment or the like adapted to position body protecting devices at desired locations on the body of the user.
A large variety of body protecting devices and garments containing integral body protecting cushions or shields have been devised to be worn by an individual to protect his body from injury during all types of sports and other physical activity. Some of these garments involve the use of permanent cushions sewn or otherwise fixed to the garment fabric. Other garments contain pockets for positioning removable cushions or shields to protect exposed areas such as knees, elbows, etc. Still other garment designs include thick, relatively stiff cushions positioned over particularly vulnerable areas of the wearer's body. All of these garments are designed to protect against serious injury to the wearer.
Conventional body protecting devices in garments are designed to protect the wearer by cushioning the impact. The devices are not designed to protect the wearer's body against the effects of sliding motion of the wearer's body against an abrading surface. On the contrary, when a wearer slides his body against an abrading surface, conventional cushions, shields or pads tend to be moved out of position thus ineffectively cushioning against the sliding impact between the wearer and the abrading surface. The result is often painful abrasions and lacerations of the skin. In addition, the sliding results in relative motion between the moving pad and the wearer's skin generating heat and causing painful skin burns.
Another disadvantage of conventional designs is that the cushions are relatively bulky. Accordingly, there is a drive to minimize the weight and bulk of any protective wearing apparel required to be worn by an individual. There is also a need for improved effectiveness of abrasion and skin burn protection in wearing apparel especially in the sport of baseball where a player may frequently slide along the ground as he approaches a base.
Another disadvantage of conventional padded or cushioned garments is that they tend to limit the freedom of movement of the wearer. Therefore there is a constant need to improve garment and shield design to maximize the freedom of movement and minimize the drag effects of the garment of the body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a lightweight abrasion prevention device of minimum bulk.
It is another object of the invention to provide a protective device on a garment used by an individual that improves the effectiveness of the abrasion protection, minimizes frictional heat generation at the skin and maximizes the freedom of bodily movement.
One form of the abrasion prevention device according to the present invention comprises a garment of the spandex type such as Lycra having strips of cushioning material such as neoprene connected together and sewn or glued to the stretch fabric and orientated lengthwise in the direction of anticipated motion. This garment bears directly and snugly against the user's skin.
For example, in baseball, a player's undergarment in the form of trousers, according to the present invention, has vertically aligned strips of cushioning material sewn of glued to the seat of the trousers. The front of the undergarment may also have vertically aligned strips of cushioning material positioned just over the knee and horizontally aligned strips of cushioning material just below the knee portion of the undergarment trouser legs. Alternatively, the knee protection may be accomplished according to the present invention by a tube of Lycra having the strips sewn or glued thereon. The tube is then stretched to fit over the knee of the user's leg.
These strips of cushioning material elastically distort in the direction of motion between the user and the abrading surface during a slide so as to absorb energy and prevent the generation of heat on the skin thereby reducing or preventing burning and abrasion of the user's body. The strips so placed on a user's undergarment will prevent burning and abrasion of the user's knees and hips during slides taken by the player to reach a base.
The garment according to the present invention may have the strips of cushioning material positioned so as to protect any area of the user's body where sliding impact is anticipated. For example, the strips may also be positioned along the outer sides of the legs to protect the user's thighs from side sliding impact.